Rogerfb

[rogerfb]

May be silly ? from a new owner & do it yourselfer,
Has anbody used coloured truck bed liner to paint exterior of trailer, reason I ask is I have a lot of spider cracks in top half of my Ventura,
Advise please
Roger

[Jon in AZ]

Spider cracks are non-structural and caused by flexing of the shell, not impact. The outer gelcoat is more brittle than the underlying fiberglass, so when the shell flexes, the fiberglass bends but the gelcoat layer cracks.

Truck liner won't prevent them from happening. It's useful for the lower front, which is typically affected by impact damage, but it would do no more good than a coat of paint elsewhere and be much harder to clean, wax, etc... Kind of ugly, too, in my opinion.

If the appearance is not bothering you too much, just keep your trailer clean and waxed and let it be- it's not really hurting anything. If it does bother you, paint is the best solution from a cosmetic perspective. Lots of good threads on that, including the best kinds of paint that will flex with the shell.

[Donna D.]

Brad and Jenny Jones did a complete rebuild of a 13' Boler, unfortunately all the info and pics were lost when Google stopped using Picsaweb for photos. They were both firefighters, so used Bright Red DuraBak for the finished surface. If you could have seen what they started with, you'd know this was a good choice for them. Since Durabak is a DIY coating, they saved some big bucks too. I like it!